


Academystuck: Dave Strider

by CJCroen1393



Series: Academystuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, M/M, Past Character Death, sorry dirk fans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 02:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7081837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CJCroen1393/pseuds/CJCroen1393
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Dave Strider and you're a student at the Hussmeister Academy for Special Individuals, looking to follow in your bro's footsteps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Academystuck: Dave Strider

**Author's Note:**

> Continuing the Academystuck series! I feel like this one is a little bit more all over the place, but still, I hope you all like it!

Your name is Dave Strider and you're a student at the Hussmeister Academy for Special Individuals, looking to follow in your bro's footsteps. 

Your bro, Dirk Strider, isn't _really_ your bro as in your brother--he's your cousin and he attended the academy before you. He was a master of the power of soul manipulation, landing him a spot in the "Heart" fraction of the Academy. There were twelve fractions you'd be sorted into depending on what kind of power you had: Breath, Blood, Light, Void, Hope, Rage, Heart, Mind, Life, Doom, Space and Time. The Heart fraction was where people who could manipulate souls went, and Dirk was better at it than anything.

After he left the Academy, Dirk went on to become a great hero, along with his boyfriend, Jake and their two best friends Jane and Roxy. They were a great team. Jane was a Life hero and could heal any injury her friends suffered. Roxy was a Void hero who could conjure anything from thin air by "stealing" its nonexistence. Jake was a Hope hero who could weaponize light beams. And Dirk? He could rip the soul right out of your body and then store it inside of his puppet, Lil Cal.

That puppet, by the way, really creeps you out. It's probably just because Dirk stored so many evil souls inside of it, but there's something about that puppet that makes you think it's evil. 

But back to your bro and his friends. While you were mostly gushing about Dirk, your other cousin, Roxy was the team's leader. She gave orders and made all the plans. They had a general strategy; Jane and Jake would start the fight using weaponry--there powers weren't quite fitting for full on combat. Jake had guns and Jane had a trident-ish thing. Roxy would conjure weapons to battle as Dirk used a mix of his soul powers and his sword. If the villain was heinous enough, Dirk would finish them off by tearing their soul out and trapping it in Cal forever. Jane would always mend her friends' injuries afterward.

Yeah, Dirk's a boss.

You sure do miss him.

Yes, it's true; while he was a hero with great powers, invincibility wasn't one of them. One day, Dirk went out to track down a criminal and never came back. After much investigation, they found him--he was dead, his chest riddled with bullet holes.

Everyone was horrified and devastated, especially Jake. You yourself cried all night after the funeral (but you'd never tell anyone that, of course). 

And to make matters worse--Lil Cal was nowhere to be found after Dirk died. You sincerely hope that it was simply obliterated instead of stolen by Dirk's killer.

Ever since his death and your induction into the Academy, you've been working hard to follow in his footsteps. This won't be easy for you, though--you not only had a LOT of expectations to live up to, but you weren't in the same fraction. For you see, your powers were of Time. On the one hand, that was as different from Heart as you could get. But on the other hand, you were in one of the two most powerful fractions in the school--the other was Space.

You didn't have a lot of control over your time manipulation powers, but you were learning. The Academy was certainly helpful in that regard.

Whenever you feel nervous, though, you remember the advice your bro used to give you:

"Just keep your cool and everything will be fine."

So you did. And you know what? You made a lot of great friends.

The first was John Egbert, a kid from the Breath fraction and Jane's cousin--you knew him before you two entered the academy, but ever since Dirk died, you two hadn't seen each other in a while. He could control wind and weather. He introduced himself by zapping you with a lightning joybuzzer. You two were friends instantly.

The second was Wally Valiant, also known as WV or The Mayor (they called him that because he wanted to run for mayor when he was old enough). He was a prefect of the Mind fraction. He didn't talk much, but he could communicate by transferring his thoughts into the heads of others and he could also read minds and possibly perform astral projection. You first met him when he was introducing you and the other newbies to the school. He's a little weird, but he's the coolest guy around in your opinion.

And now, you had made friends with Karkat Vantas, a kid with no powers and in no fraction. You and WV helped him out when he was being picked on by that creepy older kid Caliborn. And then he helped you guys save Tavros Nitram from Caliborn (he sure does get a lot of bullying mileage, doesn't he?). Even if Karkat has no powers, he's pretty cool, and funny, and cute--wait, what?

\-----

One night, you're woken up by a knock at your dorm's door. You grumble and roll out of bed. You're about to check who it is but then notice a draft.

 _Oh right,_ you think, _pants._

One pair of pants later, you open the door.

It's the Time prefect, Aradia Megido. She had the ability to control and manipulate time and fly, because she had wings.

"Hey Dave," says Aradia, in her usual cheerful voice, "what are you up to?"

"Sleeping."

"Oh, right! Well, I have a request for you."

"Hit me."

"I'm aware that you and Karkat Vantas have become friends."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, he needs a dorm," Aradia added, "he doesn't have a fraction, after all. So I was wondering, since you don't have a roommate, if you could let him live with you?"

You lean your head in to see Karkat, dressed in pajamas, holding a stuffed crab and looking annoyed and sleepy. He's grumbling a little bit to himself.

"Sure," you say, "I'll let him stay here."

"Excellent," says Aradia cheerfully, "Go on in, Karkat!"

Karkat groaned and walked into the room.

"Thanks, I guess," he says.

"You're welcome," you respond with a smile.

\-----

The next day, you and Karkat meet up with John and WV for breakfast; they were currently engaged in a mind conversation--you could tell because they were both staring at each other but not saying anything.

"Hey guys," you say to them, "are we interrupting something?"

"Nope," says John, "we were just chatting, right Mayor?"

 _"Yes,"_ says WV, pulling out a canister and spraying whipped topping on a waffle before eating it and grimacing, _"By the way, John, this whipped cream I found in your room tastes awful."_

"That's because it's shaving cream," says John.

WV looks at it, shrugs and just keeps eating. You and Karkat laugh in response and John rolls his eyes.

A girl suddenly arrives from the table where the Light kids were eating and smirks.

"Hello Dave," she says, "I hear you and Karkat are now sharing a room?"

"What's it to you, Rose?"

"Oh nothing," she chuckles. It clearly _wasn't_ nothing. 

Rose is your sister and a member of the Light fraction due to her ability to see the future. As your sister, she really loves to push your buttons. She especially loves to do that whenever you were around another guy--she did that with John, then WV and now Karkat. What did she think you were, gay?

Oh wait, you ARE gay. Kind of. You haven't completely figured things out, but you definitely like guys and might like girls too. But you're not into John (who's definitely straight anyway) or WV (who doesn't talk about sex or romance at all). As for Karkat, well, you just met him. You don't know him that well yet, nor do you know if he's gay, straight, bi or whatever--though he is cute...

You'd probably consider this all slightly more insulting if Rose weren't bisexual herself--she's dating a lady in the Space fraction, you forget her name.

"Hey, Rose," said John, "my dad called and said that he's gonna hang out with your mom!"

"Yes, John," said Rose, "that's called a date."

"I know that, Rose! I'm not stupid! Can you use your future powers to see how it's gonna go?"

"Hmm," said Rose pondering a little, "it's fuzzy, but I do see my mother and your father hitting it off at dinner."

"Neat," said John, "hey Dave, I think there's a chance that we all could be siblings!"

"Great," said Dave, "that also means you can't date my cousin Roxy."

"Hey, I--"

Suddenly, the bell rang and your first class was about to begin.

 _"We better get going,"_ said WV as they all got up and bid goodbye. Karkat opted to follow Dave, as he didn't have a fraction to go with.

\-----

After going to the science class with Doctor Scratch (he creeps you out) alongside the Space fraction and then the computer class with Professor Fox alongside the Void fraction, you and Karkat have come to the history class with the Blood fraction. Everyone was babbling, chatting and arguing until the teacher showed up.

"Good morning class!"

"Good morning, Mr. Himaruya," said the class.

Mr. Himaruya is a spacey Japanese man who liked history, though Rose observed that some of his facts get mixed up. Fortunately, the history of the powers were easier to comprehend, surprisingly. Mr. Himaruya was astonishingly mellow, to the point that he never gave letter grades--instead, he put little anime smiley or frowny faces. He was pretty, too, to the point that even Rose thinks he's cute.

"Take out your textbooks and turn to page 156," he said, "We will be discussing the first emergence of powered criminals and the foundation of the academy."

Suddenly, a loud siren began blaring. Everyone looked up in shock.

"INTRUDER ALERT," blared the alarm, "INTRUDER ALERT. LOCKDOWN ALL CLASSES."

Mr. Himaruya stared up in surprise and said, "Already?"

\-----

The entire classroom was now on lockdown, with the windows and door covered in a thick metal shield. Everything was quite dark, though Mr. Himaruya had lit a candle.

"Who do you think the intruder is?" asked Karkat.

"How should I know?" you asked, "I'm more concerned with being locked in the room with Caliborn."

"You think he'd do anything with Mr. Himaruya in the classroom?"

"Yes, and I think he'd also kill Mr. Himaruya if he could."

Karkat gulped and you looked around. The Time and Blood students were all in some state of panic or fear or (in some cases) excitement. Mr. Himaruya remained calm, seated on his desk and doodling some cartoons on pieces of scratch paper.

\-----

Outside, the intruder was making himself known--a man dressed in black and with slick black hair. His coat had a spade insignia on it and he was wearing a dog mask. It was Jack Noir, a notorious serial killer with the powers of the Space fraction. He was capable of teleporting and splitting into multiple different versions of himself.

Confronting him were Headmaster Hussie, Professor Nitram, Ms. Paint, Aradia and Professor Fox.

"Stand down, Mr. Noir," said Headmaster Hussie, "you're outnumbered."

Jack scowled beneath his mask. Showing no fear, he summoned a set of wings and zoomed toward them.

Professor Nitram attempted to hit him with his lance, but Jack teleported aside and then stabbed him in the side with a knife.

Ms. Paint immediately ran to assist Professor Nitram and Headmaster Hussie gave Jack a swift kick to the head. Jack scowled again and tried to stab Hussie, but Hussie teleported behind him before he could. Professor Fox leaped in and summoned a microphone, yelling into it and unleashing a sonic scream.

Jack scowled again beneath his mask, covering his ears. He summoned a second Jack who went on to go after Professor Fox. 

"Oh no you don't!"

Aradia had jumped in and timestopped the second Noir, grinning like a maniac as her wings fluttered behind her. Hussie handcuffed the second Jack, thankful that all of Jack's copies were inherently weaker than the original. The first Noir growled in a decidedly doglike manner and ran off to the direction of the history classroom.

"He's getting away," shouted Professor Nitram.

"No he won't!" said Aradia, letting go of the now cuffed Noir clone as she, Hussie and Fox all headed off to follow him. 

When they got there, Jack summoned a powerful energy blast and blew open the door's shield.

\-----

You and Karkat both stared in shock as Jack stood in the doorway. Himaruya backed away in horror.

Jack stared at everyone, gripping a knife. Under his mask, he sneered and warped his knife into a sword before summoning his wings again. He was going to enjoy this.

"Hello, kids," said Jack, "I'm gonna kill you. And I'll start with your teacher."

Himaruya began to panic.

 _I gotta do something..._ you thought.

"FREEZE!"

As you held out your arm, Jack was frozen in the middle of raising his sword. You started to sweat. You weren't particularly strong, and thus you wouldn't be able to hold Jack for too long. Clearly Aradia noticed that.

"DOUBLE FREEZE!"

Aradia had held out her own arm and kept Jack in place as well. Hussie grabbed Himaruya and pulled him away from Jack before taking notice of something.

"Aradia," he said, "Jack may break out of this at any moment. We need to aprehend him now!"

You could feel yourself running out of energy. Karkat could see that himself. There had to be something he could do, but what? He had no powers, did he?

Just as Professor Fox was about to cuff Jack, Jack broke free of your and Aradia's timestop and knocked him aside. Jack spread out his wings and held up the sword.

"I have to stop him..."

Karkat, quite impulsively, threw the first thing he could at Jack.

Jack was promptly hit by a blast of fiery red energy, which knocked him out cold.

You stared in shock and turned to look at Karkat, whose hand was glowing red and smoking. His eyes were wide as he looked at his own hand.

"Excellent!" shouted Headmaster Hussie, "Professor Fox, carry Jack and his clone to the containment chambers and prep them for refusion and interrogation."

"Yes sir!"

Aradia fluttered up to you and Karkat with a smile.

"Thanks for your help, guys," she said, "and Karkat, nice job with your powers! I figured you would shoot magma beams!"

"Thanks," said Karkat, still quite bewildered. You chuckled and put an arm around him.

"I knew you'd find your powers, Karkat."

\----

"Is it true?" asked John, "Did Karkat really get his powers?"

"Yep," you said, "Apparently, he's a perfect candidate for a Blood student, but all of the Blood dorms are taken so he still gets to room with me!"

Karkat smiled a little.

 _"Well now that your powers have awoken,"_ said WV, _"that means that your schooling can officially begin. You can study the serious subjects with us!"_

"You mean those weren't the serious subjects?"

"Nope!" John said, "You'll have to learn combat and weapon use too!"

Karkat swore loudly and everyone else laughed.

Your name is Dave Strider and you're lucky to have so many cool friends.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure no one was expecting Hidekaz Himaruya to be one of the teachers ;P
> 
> In regards to Jack, the villains of this story will make up a "Big Bad Ensemble". The Big Bad Ensemble trope is (to quote TV Tropes) "when a series has more than one Big Bad, sometimes separate and sometimes at odds."
> 
> The villains for this one will be Jack, Caliborn and Her Imperious Condescension (referred to as "The Empress" here).


End file.
